 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: EBC
Date: 2012-12-01 19:36
Hello all,
For my second E-flat clarinet question of the week: do any of you know major instrument retailers in the northeastern United States (e.g. Boston, Philadelphia, New York) that would have a large stock of E-flat clarinets? I live in Montreal, Quebec, and while the two main woodwind stores here have a decent selection (~5 instruments each), I'd like to choose from as many different instruments as possible. I've done searches online, and no (physical) retailer I could find had more than a couple of instruments, while most didn't have any pro instruments at all!
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Eric
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Author: JHowell
Date: 2012-12-01 20:41
Five of the same model? That's a very good selection of E flats; they don't make as many of them as B flats. If you have a store that has, say, five Prestige RCs, that's as good as it gets, in my experience, nobody has a "large stock." I doubt that many more than that come to the distributor at one time. When I bought my current E flat, I wasn't shopping for it; I was at the Buffet distributor in Chicago (back when that's where it was) trying other instruments and they happened to have it. I had no "selection," just the one horn, but I liked it. So, if you find a good instrument locally, I wouldn't agonize over a lack of choice. Much of E flat playing is learning to cope with YOUR instrument, because they're all different.
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Author: Merlin_Williams
Date: 2012-12-01 20:46
To the OP: that's as good a selection as you'll find in Canada. No one in Toronto has that many eefers.
I'm presuming you're dealing with Twigg and Veraquin. I'd give the edge to Pascal Veraquin. Pick the one you like best there, and get a Fobes extension to get the most out of the beast.
Jupiter Canada Artist/Clinician
Stratford Shakespeare Festival musician
Woodwind Doubling Channel Creator on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/WoodwindDoubling
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Author: EBC
Date: 2012-12-08 18:19
Thank you both for the advice, although I must admit I'm still a little worried. There really isn't going to be ANY store in the northeast with more than 5 pro-level E-flat clarinets? My selection at the moment looks to be a single R13 at Pascal and three Yamaha YCL681-II plus another R13 at Twigg, with the possibility of another shipment of (likely very few) Buffets. Now, that's pretty decent, but this is Montreal, population 3 million. Shouldn't NYC, Boston, Philadelphia and the like have a greater selection?
The other issue is that my university beat me to the E-flat buying game... they just got a donation to buy a bunch of instruments, and are currently testing most of Twigg's instruments. Sadly enough, the only one they've bought so far I've tried, and it's the best instrument I've played yet! I'm concerned that I'm going to get stuck with the leftovers... which seems to be the case, because the two E-flats I did try at Twigg (that McGill had declined to test more thoroughly) were pretty awful.
More advice?
Thanks,
Eric
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Author: A Brady
Date: 2012-12-08 18:44
It's tough these days to find a large selection of pro harmony clarinets in NYC. The Buffet showroom has an excellent selection of sopranos, but only a few e-flats are usually available to try. The other area retailers (including North NJ) may have a few, but if you really want to have a large selection to choose from, I would recommend visiting the Buffet facility in Jacksonville, or for a more exotic destination, Buffet in Paris. I believe Yamaha may have a showroom in LA with a decent selection, but a left-coaster will have more info on this than me. The old WW&BW stores in South Bend and NYC were great resources for this sort of thing, but sadly, they are extinct.
Another possibility is trying instruments from the "hand selected" people, Walter Grabner, Lisa Canning, or Gregory Smith for example, which works well for some people.
It can be quite a quest to find the elusive little beast, good luck!
AB
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Author: Clarimeister
Date: 2012-12-08 20:30
I agree with the above comment. Your best bet is probably to get an instrument hand selected. I went through Lisa Canning, also mentioned in the previous comment, and she sent me 3 Eb clarinets. I was specifically looking for an RC but she sent me an R13 with two RC's as well. I couldn't be any happier in the selections she came up with and I found my beautiful new Eefer through her. I highly, HIGHLY recommend Lisa's Clarinet Shop for hand selection of any clarinets.
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Author: EBC
Date: 2012-12-10 18:15
Hm, unfortunately, Jacksonville and Paris are a little out of my travel price range. I'll probably investigate the "hand-selected people" as well as the Buffet showroom.
Thanks again to all for the advice.
Eric
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Author: Merlin_Williams
Date: 2012-12-10 20:13
Metropolitan Toronto is something like 5 million, and you'd be hard pressed to come up with five brand new pro Eb clarinets to test in the whole city.
Sounds like you had a chance to snag a really good horn, and hesitated.
Jupiter Canada Artist/Clinician
Stratford Shakespeare Festival musician
Woodwind Doubling Channel Creator on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/WoodwindDoubling
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Author: EBC
Date: 2012-12-15 23:42
I didn't have a chance, actually, I only found out this clarinet existed AFTER my school bought it. Thanks for the info on Toronto, though.
Eric
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